St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1887-07-30
A PERJURED FIREPLACE.
Telling q Story and Getting Things
Mixed.

Mixed.
The sound of the wind howling dis
mally without came from the open fire
place OF the parlor Of a cozy suburba,
cottage one evening recently. Tn
proprietor of the cottage. with his wifi
and an elderly guest. had been sittin.
near the fireplace for some moment.
listening to the wailings of such Dor
tlons Of the blast as had been caught il
the chimney.
"The fireplace is trying to tell a.
something" remarked the wife, who
was of poetic turn of mind.
"Nonsense." exclaimed her husband,
''fire-places never say any thing, al
least not to sensible persons"
"And yet." said the guest. - tell
tale fireplace once told me that mur-
der had been committed. and pointed
out man which it accused of having
committed the murder.''
The host expressed himself as quite
ready to be convinced that fire-places
did talk. and urged his guest to relate
the murder story which had come from
the mouth of a fireplace.
''When was a young man" said the
guest. Il occupied at one time a fur
nished room in large. old-fashioned
house near East Broadway. NV room
was the third floor. back. The most
striking feature about it was an old
fashioned fireplace of ample dimen-
sions. BY means of this fireplace I
could frequently hear what was said in
the rooms both above and below mine:
but it was very difficult for me to dis
tingnish whether a sound which l heard
in the fireplace came from the room
above or the one below mine. When l
first took the room, a uuarrelsome
couple had the room below. while the
one above was occupied by a very jolly
couple. Sometimes would sit in front
of my Fireplace and listen to the quar-
rcling from below and the laughter
from above, which would become
strangely mixed. Many of the collo-
quies formed by the mingling of the
remarks which came through my fire
place from the rooms above and
below mine were very amusing.
Zone day l learned that the quarrel
some couple had moved to some other
portion of the town. A few days after
ward their room was taken bv a tall.
dark. French-looking man named Le-
clair and his wife. delicate woman.
who appeared to be fading. During
the following week the jolly couple
went away. and their room was taken
by handsome woman who wore black,
There was something sad about her
face. which suggested that she had a
history. All that I could learn from
my landlady. q woman who attended
strictly to her own business, was that
the lOdger above me was . Mrs. VIM
ter.
'One evening as was going up to
my room, saw Leclair standing in
the hall outside his door and talking
very earnestly to Mrs. Winter, who |
seemed to be regarding him with look |
of strong sympathy. During the next
few weeks l saw Leclair and Mrs. VIM
ter together in the hall several times,
He was very earnest each time, while
she was evidently sympathetic. One
evening as passed Leclair's door it
opened and l saw Mrs. Le-
clair looking out with a strange ex-
preston on her countenance. When
she saw me she looked frightened and
hurriedly closed the door. had be-
gun to suspect that Leclair and Mrs.
were lovers. Perhaps Mrs. Le-
clair had the same suspicion and had
opened the door in the expectation of
inding Mrs. Winter and her husband
,ogether. The more l thought of the
natter the more became convinced
hat there was some mystery con-
>ccted with my fellow lodgers.
Zone Saturday evening when Iretired
found it impossible to sleep. After
ossing about for several hours l got up
md sat in my easy chair. which hap
,ened to be Just in front of the fire.
,lace. My thou: hts ran on the Leclairs
md Mrs. Winter. I heard the clock in
distant church tower strike three.
md then fell into Soze. It seemed
o me that was sitting in large room.
Before me stood Leclaif,. and Mrs.
Winter. Her lips moved and she
eemed to be reproaching HIM but
eard nothing. He looked angHly at
er, and she tried 70 put her arms
round his neck. but he pushed her
ouyhly away. She sank on her knees